What Does Isaiah 48:5 Mean in the King James?
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word arrives before the event so that an artifact made by human hands cannot be mistaken for the one who disclosed it.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the moment when something unfolds and you are tempted to credit a visible object with making it happen. The disclosure already present before the event reveals the difference between what can be shaped and what can speak ahead of it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the image you made is what caused the events or commanded them.
THE ROOT
הִגַּדְתִּי
higgadti
GROWS FROM
נגד
nagad
To tell, make known, bring into notice.
The root behind “declared” carries the sense of making something known. The event is disclosed before it happens, so its source cannot be confused with an image credited afterward.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: One who tells or declares.
מַגִּיד
The disclosure in the verse belongs to a speaker who makes the event known ahead of time.
nagid: Leader, ruler.
נָגִיד
This root family also names one who leads, linking advance disclosure with the claim to authority over what unfolds.
הִשְׁמַעְתִּיךָ
hishma'tikha
GROWS FROM
שמע
shamaʿ
To hear, listen.
The Hebrew verb rendered “showed” means “caused you to hear.” The disclosure reaches the ear as a report before the event is visible.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: Report, news.
שְׁמוּעָה
The event’s arrival is preceded by news of it.
shamaʿ: Hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
The verse places hearing the disclosure before seeing the event come to pass.
פְּסִילִי
pesili
GROWS FROM
פסל
pasal
To hew or carve.
“graven image” in this verse is pesili. The Hebrew word keeps the act of carving inside the name of the image. What is credited with making events has itself been cut into form.
ALSO GROWS
pasal: To hew, carve.
פָּסַל
This verb names the shaping that produces the image.
pesel: Carved image, idol.
פֶּסֶל
The noun names the finished object that the verse says is falsely credited with agency.
THE PATTERN
A word that names an event before it unfolds exposes the rival claims of objects later credited with its power.
Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.THE THREAD
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:The Hebrew verb translated “declared” in this verse shares its root with the opening word “Declaring” here. Isaiah 46:10 makes the logic explicit: the one who names what is not yet done claims the counsel that brings it to pass.
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